'Loose' or 'Lose'?

People often ask me to help them remember the difference between the words loose and lose, and I confess that I see the wrong spellings so often that I sometimes have to remind myself which is which. I mean, I know, that loose with two O’s means “not tight” and lose with one O means the opposite of “win,” but when you see them mixed up so often, you start to wonder what people really mean.

‘Loose’ or ‘Lose’? A Memory Trick

Here’s my memory trick if you have trouble spelling loose and lose: 

Think of the phrase “loose as a goose.” It means relaxed or cool, but how it helps you is that everyone seems to be able to remember that goose has two O’s, and voilà—loose, which you’re using in the saying “loose as a goose” also has two O’s! You can also think of the goose's two big round eyes and imagine that they are two big O's.

Then you can just remember that lose is the other one. You want it to lose that extra O so it becomes the right spelling.

Remember that trick and you’ll be relaxed and cool. Loose as a goose. And you’ll get those spellings right.

Loose as a Goose

Also, if you’ve been listening to this podcast for long, you won’t be surprised to hear that I became curious about the origin of the phrase loose as a goose and started doing some research. I mean, that’s weird, right? Why would a goose be loose? That answer is next.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.